Bizarre behaviour of remote controllers - any ideas please?

[John_Hughes]

Ten days or so ago I got home from an evening meeting to find that SWMBO was having all sorts of trouble with the hand-held remotes for both the telly and the freesat box; neither was working properly, and in fact the former seemed to have given up the ghost entirely though it was only a few months old.

 

'No prob,' said I, 'I can change the batteries.' However, new batteries made no difference to either device, and a quick check on the meter showed that the old ones were fine anyway.

 

For the next several days we limped on using the push-button controls on the telly and getting a very occasional acceptable response from the freesat box. Then two days ago both controllers suddenly came back to life and now work perfectly again.

 

Can anyone suggest a sensible explanation for this? I confess that I'm totally stumped.

[Robert]

This is indeed a strange one.  Most remote controls are infra-red and so the only thing that I can think of is that the infra-red beam wasn't reaching the equipment.  This can be caused by, for example, bright sunlight but that wouldn't apply in your case as you seem to suggest that it occurred at different times over a period of a couple of days.

 

We did have a TV remote fail completely - they are very definitely built down to a (low) price!  However, we were able to replace it.

[Jonboy]

Any other new devices or lights/lamps in the room that could be emitting infrared?

 

One of my tablets and a previous phone have infrared ports.

[NIK]

Ten days or so ago I got home from an evening meeting to find that SWMBO was having all sorts of trouble with the hand-held remotes for both the telly and the freesat box; neither was working properly, and in fact the former seemed to have given up the ghost entirely though it was only a few months old.

 

'No prob,' said I, 'I can change the batteries.' However, new batteries made no difference to either device, and a quick check on the meter showed that the old ones were fine anyway.

 

For the next several days we limped on using the push-button controls on the telly and getting a very occasional acceptable response from the freesat box. Then two days ago both controllers suddenly came back to life and now work perfectly again.

 

Can anyone suggest a sensible explanation for this? I confess that I'm totally stumped.

 

Hi,

 

If there was an old remote control stuck in the sofa for example one of its buttons could have been pressed by a weight above. If the remotes front was not obscured it would transmit all the time a button was depressed.

 

Infrared remotes unlike radio comms can't uses a carrier wave so interference in the form of signal swamping is more likely.

 

Just an idea.

 

Regards

 

Nick

[kevinlms]

There is a very simple way to test if an infra-red remote is working, either continuously or not at all.

 

Use a mobile phone camera and point the remote at it, if its working, you'll see the red flashes through the camera. It is actually that simple.

 

Continuous flashing means, either a button is stuck down, or some sticky liquid has been spilt on it. Most can be opened up with broad thin bladed objects. Very similar in principle to say taking roofs of RTR coaches. So any railway modeller worth his salt, ought to be able to get a remote apart!

[John_Hughes]

Thanks for those interesting thoughts - checking the existence or otherwise of IR with a mobile phone seems an excellent idea and I'll try it out.

 

I'd already worked through some of the other suggestions, and can confirm a total lack of sticky liquid, an absence of any new equipment emitting IR, and no old remotes stuck in the sofa or anywhere else.

 

It would have been odd enough if only one remote for one appliance had been affected, but two were, at the same time and in the same way. The third, which operates the CD player and radio, has continued to work perfectly throughout.

 

My current best guess is ghosts putting their hands between source and receiver After all, When you've eliminated the possible, whatever remains....

[DaveF]

From time to time I get a similar problem, though it usually only lasts a short time

 

It happens if my hand or face is hot, a quick rinse of my hand and face with cold water and the remote is fine.

 

Now why would that happen?

 

David